Angelina Jolie Says She Doesn't Get Nervous When Son Maddox Is Flying: 'Maybe I Just Have a Big Family'

Mar. 15, 2025

Angelina Jolie and Maddox Jolie-Pitt in October 2019.Photo:Jun Sato/WireImage

Jun Sato/WireImage

Angelina Joliesays she’d rather her kids be “out there trying and failing” — or in the case of her 23-year-old sonMaddox, piloting a plane — than not taking “risks” at all.

Speaking withWMagazinefor one of 16 unique covers as part of its “Volume 1, Best Performances” issue, the 49-year-old Academy Award winner detailed her thoughts on her eldest son’s passion for flying.

When asked if she was “nervous” about Maddox manning an aircraft, she replied: “No.”

“Maybe I just have a big family,” Jolie joked. “I worry more that people aren’t finding themselves and something they love. I think that’s more dangerous, to walk so tentatively through life that you don’t take a risk. You don’t wake up with passion. I think that’s scarier.”

“I’d rather they be out there trying and failing than not pushing and being passionate,” she added.

Angelina Jolie inW Magazine’s first issue of 2025, Volume 1, Best Performances.Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Jolie —who shares Maddox,Pax, 21,Zahara, 19,Shiloh, 18,Knox, 16, andVivienne, 16 with exBrad Pitt— previously spoke about Maddox’s time in the sky while appearing on a Dec. 5 episode ofThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, when she confirmed that her son followed in her footsteps to become a trained pilot.

After getting her license in December 2004, the actress purchased a single-engine plane, a Cirrus SR22-G2, in early 2025 featuring the letters “MX” in her tail number in honor of her son. She then shared with PEOPLE in 2017 that Maddox had begun to fly, as well.

Elsewhere during her latest appearance onFallon, Jolie spoke about her kids' attitudes toward one day working in entertainment, sharing that some of them — specifically daughter Shiloh — “want to be private.”

“Just private, not photographed, not on the thing. I think, her most of all would like privacy," Jolie said.

“But it wasn’t their choice,” theMaleficentstar added of her children’s fame. “So some people are more comfortable with public, some people are more comfortable with talk shows.”

Angelina Jolie and son Maddox at the White House on April 26, 2023.STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty

STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty

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While talking with theBBCin December 2024 about her new film,Maria, Jolie spoke about Pax and Maddox working on the project as production assistants and said they got to see their mom expressing pain in “a new way.”

“They’ve seen me go through a lot of things, but they hadn’t experienced me expressing a lot of the pain that usually a parent hides from a child,” Jolie said, adding that they were there for her during emotional moments.

“They were there to witness some of that,” she said, “but then we would hug or they would bring me cups of tea.”

source: people.com